Light In Your Eyes
by Hotshot
Summary: One of the newsie has a perfect relationship with a girl, at least that's how it starts. She doesn't want him, and that hurts. Yeah, love sucks, but the question is can he fix it? Song by Blessid Union of Souls.


**Disclaimer**: Ok, I do not own the newsies; if you don't know this by now then all I have to say is 'the lights are on but nobody's home.' Technically I could say that I own the characters of this story because none of them will be given a name, but for the sake of not being sued I'll say that Disney owns 'em. It's your decision who the lead characters are so have fun.

AN: This was originally a song fic to Blessid Union of Souls' 'Light in Your Eyes' but ffn is cracking down on song lyrics so I replaced any lyrics with italicized one. Just in case that will get you a little better feel for the story

Light in Your Eyes

By Hotshot

Their relationship was unique from the beginning. He had a reputation for being with a lot of women, and she was just always around. All of the guys were surprised that she wasn't dating any of them. The first time he noticed her was at the small diner that they all went to daily after selling out.

Something about her just captured his attention that day. He slid into a booth with her and several other people. They left together and sold the afternoon edition. No one saw them until very late that night when they came back from God knows where. They went back to their respective lodging houses and it looked as if nothing else would come of it.

The relationship progressed slowly, but it was a strong one. Everyone envied and wanted a relationship like theirs. The way he kissed her when they were in public and the even more intimate way they kissed when they were alone. He was all the time whispering 'I love you' in her ear and she would whisper it back with a passion that was too wonderful for words. She would always be sitting in his lap as they all played poker. Her eyes shined with a light that was full of ardor and love. Her face told of nothing but the uttermost bliss and ecstasy. And the numerous nights where she stayed at the lodging house with him were the mort magnificent.

He was a completely different person when she was around. He never snapped at anyone or was a sore loser at poker games; instead he was a 'perfect gentleman' and took everything in stride. In essence she was the best thing that had ever happened to him.

_1_

When he was eighteen he wasn't ready to give up being a newsie and become an adult. He wasn't ready for the world of fancy suits, unscrupulous businessmen, and cheating coworkers. She was ready for something new and moved out of the crowded lodging house and into an apartment with her best friend. He refused to move in with her yet because it would mean the end of his life, or at least that was how he saw it.

There had been problems in their relationships lately so he gave her the space that he was so sure she wanted during the day. He didn't sell near her home or ask her to buy a paper on the streets. If you saw them in the same area you'd never guess that they knew each other. But each evening they spent time together, every evening, no matter how cold and bitter the weather was outside, or how bad a day he'd had selling. He would always make his way to her apartment.

The distance caused an evident strain in their relationship. He spent the few days when he came back to the lodging house talking with his best friend, Night, about what to do.

"I don't know how to tell her how much I love her," he whispered one night on the rooftop. His intense eyes focused on the stars glistening alluringly above them, and his hair blowing across his creased forehead from the wind "I'd give up everything for her but she never really said I had to stop being a newsie. Being a newsie is my life; I mean if she asked me to stop I'd start up a new life at the drop of a dime. I just don't know if I can do anything else, and if I can't, well, I can't take care of her on what I make now. She deserves better."

"But she chose you," Night replied. His friend had chosen to lie on his back and look up at the stars, but night sat with his knees drawn up against his chest, and his arms wrapped around his knees. His almost black eyes glowed with some unseen source of light and his raven black hair fell across his eyes. "She knew you as a newsie and she knows you love it. She also knows how much you love her, and that you would do anything if she asked you too. She wants you to be happy so she's putting her happiness aside and waiting. She loves you."

"I can't remember the last time I even kissed her goodbye, or when we said I love you like we used to. I just don't know what to tell her. If I could just be with her tonight I could make her feel like I do and believe I'd do anything for her."

"Then why don't you." Night's dark eyes blazed.

He shook his head as he sat up and sighed, "I don't know."

_1_

He sat on the roof long after Night had gone downstairs. If she didn't love him anymore she would have broken it off long before now. He prayed that this was proof because they were still together. He lay back down on the roof and looked up at the sky again. Their relationship had been the one everyone else was jealous of and the one that everyone wanted to have. Now they barely kissed, or talked like they used to. But, for there was always an exception, there was still that bright light shining in her eyes. That one that had begun to shine when their relationship started. It was that light that he found his reason for existing, and that light that kept him sure of their love.

_1_

He began to leave notes for her, like those he had written when they were first together, and drop by to see her in the middle of the day. She seemed much happier, but also, in a different way, sadder. He was often left wondering if there was a chance in hell for them as he went back out selling. Building on their preexisting relationship seemed to be getting him nowhere fast. His predicament led to numerous evenings on the roof talking to Night.

"I don't know what to do!" he raged one night. "I mean on some aspects of our relationship we're doing good, but in others everything is so fucked up!"

"Well just put the pieces back together again and make everything work over all."

"I don't know." He pitched a small stone off of the roof and listened as it hit the street or a building somewhere with a decisive clack. "I mean the way out relationships going anyone but us would think that there's no chance in hell we'd stay together and that there's nothing left to build on in this relationship. The pieces all fell apart. I don't know if it's that easy to pick them up and put them back together after they fall apart."

"If you don't try you'll never know," Night said staring off into space. If he weren't your friend he'd be one of those people you hated for being so insightful, "You've got to try to fix it, an' if you can't find the initiative to maybe it ain't worth it."

He found himself sitting on the roof hours after Night had gone down to bed. He knew this would be one of those nights where he'd fall asleep and wake up on the roof the next morning with a sore neck and a headache from thinking all night. He pulled out a small picture of them from his pocket. It was very old, from when they'd first been together years ago. She had another copy of it on her dresser. Both of them looked remarkably happy in the picture with enormous genuine smiles spread across their faces. If only things hadn't changed so much. If only they hadn't had to grow up, especially on these streets, and under these conditions. If only they could still be the people in that picture. Life would be perfect.

_1_

That fateful day started out normal enough. Things had been going better for the couple lately and he know thought that nothing could come between her. They sat in a quiet booth at their favorite diner smiling and talking about everything that was going on lately. Her eyes shined again with the light from that unnamable source, and her word echoed through his ears like the most beautiful melody form a song. Even as she began to deliver that awful news the melody never wavered.

"I've been thinking and I just can't keep doing this anymore," she admitted taking his hands in hers, "I can't be with you. I know we've been doing better lately but I can't. I'm not saying it's forever, but I need time. I really do care about you, but if I care about you at all I have to let you go. Just try, please, if you don't feel the same in three months come find me again. I need time." As he didn't say anything she leaned forward and whispered his name, "I love you." She stood and without saying anymore left the diner.

He sat there for several minutes after she left just staring into the spot where she'd been sitting. She was gone form his life. Even with the promise that he could come see her in a few months there was no way anything could happen between them again. They'd been together for more than four years. Just like that it was all over, and there was nothing he could do.

_1_

Things changed after that. He tried as hard as he could to forget about her and move on in his life. His reputation as a ladies man returned, but he never allowed himself to get as close to any woman as he had been to her. The fear of being hurt again could not be erased from his heart. It was singed across his soul like an old scar.

His friends were the only ones he kept close. He became one of those newsies who held a tough front and was feared by those who hadn't known him when she was around. Eventually he did quit and start his life, but it was with a deep regret that it wouldn't be with her. He wasn't one of those unscrupulous businessmen that he'd feared becoming. Instead he became a teacher at a simple public school, with a low paycheck. He cared for his students like he had the other newsies, gaining their respect and earning their trust.

He never went to her apartment. No matter how tempting the offer was when those three months were up he didn't go. They each needed to live their own lives. There was no way he could support them both on his paycheck, at least not in the way she deserved.

_1_

Ten years later…

He sat at his desk long after hours one day trying to write a letter that he could send to her. He tried to put down into words how much ha loved her and wanted to be with her more than anything else in the world. No matter how hard and long he sat at his desk and how much he wrote he could not describe the undying love for her that still burned in his heart, for that was what their love had been, completely indescribable. He wished with every ounce of his soul that Night were still there to help him get his emotions out on the paper that sat on his desk. Unfortunately, his old friend had left the newsies a full year before he had and never been heard from again. With the decision that all was hopeless he finally crumpled the ink-stained paper and threw it expertly into the garbage can.

_1_

Even after so long he still loved her. The emotions were almost too much for him. He had to now at least what had become of her. There was a small, almost nonexistent, chance that she was still single and living in the same apartment. There was an even smaller chance of her still caring about him, or them starting a relationship again.

When he rang the bell at her old apartment the girl who answered the door was familiar. It was not the woman he loved, but her roommate. He calmly asked if she was there, he didn't know how considering the fact that his heart felt ready to beat out of his chest.

"She doesn't live here." The woman said.

"But she did, I remember you." For the life of him he could not find the woman's name in the contents of his mind. "Please, where can I find her?"

"Goodbye," the woman said in an apologetic voice, closing the door.

He began to walk toward the stairs knowing that he'd lost her forever. He spun as he heard a woman calling his name. Her old roommate ran down the hall to catch up with him just as he was reaching the exit.

"I know for a fact that she goes to Tibby's every Saturday afternoon at about six, that's today. You may not like what you see but I swear to you she'll be there." She handed him a simple red rose, "Give this to her."

He thanked her and hurried out the door calling his gratitude even more over his shoulders. Tibby's had been the diner they'd always gone to. Maybe she did still care about him. It didn't matter that her roommate had said he wouldn't like what he saw there was nothing that could take away from seeing her again. He slowed his pace when he reached the small diner and walked inside. He took a seat at one of the smaller tables and ordered a coffee to warm him from the bustling cold of the winter wind outside. As a waiter brought his order he sat back and waited, there was barely an hour until she would arrive.

_1_

He'd finally realized where the light had come from. It was from the love she'd had for him. He knew it because it was in his eyes now. He could feel it. It wasn't ever going to fade either, but now it was also kindled by pain.

She sat at a table across the diner from him, just as radiant as she had ever been. Her eyes sparkled brightly as she laughed and her hair fell perfectly just past her shoulders. It still took his breath away to see her, and he felt better than he had in years, but her roommate had been correct.

She sat at a large table with four other people. A boy that looked about eight sat across from her. His eyes were wide with excitement as he ate the sandwich that had been ordered for him and he told his sister some kind of story. The sister looked perhaps two years younger and laughed at her brother's antics.

The woman he loved also held a child that couldn't be more than a year old in her lap. They looked too much like her not to be her children and a wedding band sparkled on her left hand. The children also looked remarkably like them man sitting at the table, especially the boy with his unruly black hair and dark, glistening eyes. Night sat at the table with her looking at their family and eating their dinner.

His best friend had taken the initiative he couldn't, and had obviously been more successful. He didn't blame or hate Night at all, more like envied him. He decided it was his time to leave and looked down at the rose in his hands. He placed the appropriate amount of change on the table and began to walk toward the table.

"Excuse me ma'am," he said clearing his throat. All the occupants of the table turned to him. Night's eyes flashed with a look of recognition but he said nothing. Her eyes were the last to turn to him. There was a faint light in them that immediately brightened when she saw him, but there was no recognition. She remembered him, and there was no doubt that if she were told who he was she would stand and hug him, but he looked too different to be recognizable. But something about him being there even if she didn't now made her love stronger.

"Can I help you?" she asked, smiling.

She didn't know the pain that smile caused in his heart. He handed her the rose, "A beautiful flower for a beautiful lady."

"Thank you very much, but who is it from?" she looked up at him confused.

He tipped his hat and started toward the door turning as he reached it, "An old love from an indescribable relationship." With that said he stepped out of the diner and back into the blistering cold of the fierce streets of New York. He listened to her family's excited chatter about the strange man and looked back through the front window once to see her smiling after him. He turned back to the road and smiled sadly to himself.   
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1_

A/N: That needed some major editing between its original post and now. Hope you enjoyed it. In case anyone is interested I was thinking of Spot when I wrote this. Leave a review

Hotshot


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